By Lemma Analysis · Prices checked · Next review
Disclosure: we build Lemma Analysis, a research tool for US stocks, so we are not a neutral party here. Every other tool’s price was read from its own pricing page on the date shown beside it, each tool gets its limitations as well as its strengths, ours included, and the method is set out under “How we tested”.
A quality score grades the business rather than the share price: how profitable it is, how much debt it carries, how steadily it grows. The short answer: for the standard academic scores free, Stock Analysis (Piotroski and Altman); for category scores worldwide, Stock Unlock; for one 0–100 ranking, GuruFocus; for sector-relative grades on US stocks, Seeking Alpha; for a visual first read, Simply Wall St; for an analyst’s view of competitive advantage, Morningstar. Lemma Analysis, which we build, publishes a 0–10 Quality Score that is free on every US-listed company. Here is how the seven differ, and what each one leaves out.
The order is not a ranking: free scores come first. The table’s price is the cheapest paid plan of the tool around each score, which is what you would pay to see it in full.
| Tool | Free to see | Scale | What it grades | Method published | Cheapest paid plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lemma Analysis our product | Yes — every company, every plan | 0–10, five pillars | Profitability 25%, Solvency 20%, Growth 20%, Efficiency 15%, Predictability 20% | Pillars, weights and 21 metrics; sector-relative | $8.99/mo · $79.99/yr Ultimate · 7-day free trial included | A sector-aware grade of a US company’s business, free, with every part of it open to read. |
| Stock Analysis | Yes — on each stock’s statistics page | Piotroski F-Score 0–9; Altman Z-Score | Financial strength signals; distress risk | Public academic formulas | $9.99/mo · $79.00/yr Pro · checked | The two standard academic scores, free on any stock, to compare with any other source. |
| Stock Unlock | Limited — a selection of stocks | 1–5 in seven categories | Valuation, profitability, growth, financial health, dividends, management, analysts | Categories published; 80+ metrics, by industry | $9.00/mo · $90.00/yr Pro · checked | Category scores calibrated by industry, on stocks worldwide, with history behind them. |
| GuruFocus | Limited free account; full access on Premium | 0–100 | Financial strength, profitability, growth, momentum and more | Components published | $549.00/yr Premium, US region · checked | One 0–100 number that ranks companies on several dimensions, inside a large value-investing platform. |
| Seeking Alpha | No — Premium | Quant Rating 1–5; factor grades A+ to F | Value, growth, profitability, momentum, EPS revisions | Factors explained in its FAQ | $299.00/yr Premium · checked | Sector-relative factor grades on US-listed stocks, updated every day before the open. |
| Simply Wall St | 5 company reports a month | 0–6 on each of five axes | Valuation, future growth, past performance, financial health, dividend | Six pass/fail checks per axis | $18.99/mo · $131.40/yr Premium · checked | A visual first read of a company on five axes, across more than ninety markets. |
| Morningstar | Limited; ratings need Investor | Wide, narrow or none | Durability of competitive advantage | Analyst judgement; approach described | $34.95/mo · $249.00/yr Investor · checked | An analyst’s judgement on how durable a company’s competitive advantage is. |
A score made the list if it met all three of these:
Two scores that come up in searches, BetterInvesting’s RightStock and Stockvektor, are not here because their sites could not be read on the check date. They will be looked at again at the next review.
“Quality” in investing usually means four things, and a useful score says which of them it is reading:
Two design choices separate the scores above. The first is whether the score is judged against the company’s own sector — a bank and a software company should not be held to the same margins. The second is whether price is mixed in: valuation and momentum belong in a decision, but a score that includes them can fall because the shares rose, which says nothing about the business. Our quality score guide shows how ours handles both, metric by metric.
Ultimate · $8.99/mo · $79.99/yr · 7-day free trial included
Best for: A sector-aware grade of a US company’s business, free, with every part of it open to read.
Strengths
Limitations
Pro · $9.99/mo · $79.00/yr · checked · stockanalysis.com
Best for: The two standard academic scores, free on any stock, to compare with any other source.
Strengths
Limitations
Pro · $9.00/mo · $90.00/yr · checked · stockunlock.com
Best for: Category scores calibrated by industry, on stocks worldwide, with history behind them.
Strengths
Limitations
Premium, US region · $549.00/yr · checked · gurufocus.com
Best for: One 0–100 number that ranks companies on several dimensions, inside a large value-investing platform.
Strengths
Limitations
Premium · $299.00/yr · checked · seekingalpha.com
Best for: Sector-relative factor grades on US-listed stocks, updated every day before the open.
Strengths
Limitations
Premium · $18.99/mo · $131.40/yr · checked · simplywall.st
Best for: A visual first read of a company on five axes, across more than ninety markets.
Strengths
Limitations
Investor · $34.95/mo · $249.00/yr · checked · morningstar.com
Best for: An analyst’s judgement on how durable a company’s competitive advantage is.
Strengths
Limitations
Lemma’s score for any covered company can be read without an account on the Quality Score pages.
On the check date at the top of the page we read each tool’s pricing page and the page or help article that explains its score, opened a company’s score where it is visible without an account, and wrote down the scale, the components and what is free. Prices are the cheapest paid plan at list price in US dollars, before tax and promotions; a plan sold only yearly shows only the yearly figure.
We did not test whether any score predicts returns: none of them, ours included, claims to be a buy or sell recommendation on its own, and a fair test would need years of point-in-time data for all seven. Some vendors block automated reading, so where a page could not be loaded the entry relies on the vendor’s other pages and leaves out what they do not settle. Our own entry was written from the product, with its limits stated the same way. The page is re-checked every quarter.
A rating that grades the business behind a stock rather than its price — usually from profitability, financial strength, growth and consistency. Some scores also mix in valuation or price momentum, which makes them a ranking of the stock as much as a grade of the company.
The F-Score is nine pass/fail tests that work best on cheap, out-of-favour companies. For a graded view across more dimensions, Stock Unlock’s Stock Scores, GuruFocus’s GF Score and Seeking Alpha’s factor grades all go further, and Lemma Analysis’s Quality Score grades five pillars from 0 to 10 against the company’s sector, free. The Altman Z-Score answers a narrower question — the risk of financial distress.
Stock Analysis shows the Piotroski F-Score and Altman Z-Score free with no account, and Lemma Analysis’s Quality Score is free on every company and every plan. Stock Unlock shows its scores free for a selection of stocks and Simply Wall St gives five company reports a month; Seeking Alpha’s grades and Morningstar’s moat ratings need a paid plan.
Not on its own. A high score says the business has been profitable, solid and steady; it says nothing about whether the price already reflects that. The best businesses are often expensive, so a quality score is a reason to look closer and value the company, not a verdict.
Each of 21 metrics is scored from 0 to 10 against sector-aware benchmarks, the metrics roll up into five pillars — Profitability 25%, Solvency 20%, Growth 20%, Efficiency 15%, Predictability 20% — and the pillars combine into the overall score. The quality score guide lists every metric and how it is judged.
Lemma Analysis gives independent investors both lenses in one terminal — a stock screener and an intrinsic value tool for the fundamentals, alongside price history and charts for timing.